Ex-GHURA lawyer unable to view evidence, asks for dismissal

In March 29 file photo, attorney Mark Smith, center, walks hand-in-hand with ex-wife Clare Calvo as they are led into the District Court of Guam building by his attorney, David Lujan.(Photo: PDN file photo)

The former Guam Housing and Urban Renewal Authority lawyer and his friend, accused of wire fraud and money laundering in connection with properties rented under the Section 8 program, want the court to dismiss their case because their lawyers could not access a hard drive with information related to the case.

Attorney David Lujan represents Mark Smith. Smith and his friend, Glenn Wong, were indicted in March.

GHURA administers the Section 8 program in Guam. Smith was prohibited from receiving Section 8 payments on his rental properties while he was GHURA’s legal counsel, the indictment states.

Smith allegedly transferred his rental properties to Wong and received more than $379,000 in federal housing payments over the course of three years while GHURA legal counsel, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors gave the defense attorneys files related to the case on a thumb drive, an internal hard drive and another USB drive needed to access files in the hard drive, documents state.

After several tries, the defense could not access the files on the hard drive, even after the prosecution's staff went to help, court documents state.

Marivic David, assistant U.S. attorney, previously said the hard drive contains millions of documents from files seized from GHURA.

David said prosecutors do not intend to use any information on the hard drive.

The defense argued that a prosecutor is obligated to give them full access to all the evidence in the case.

They asked the court to dismiss the case or to order prosecutors to print all the documents in the hard drive and deliver it to the defendants.